Based on the best-selling novel 1906 by James
Dalessandro, the film will mark the first time director Brad Bird
and Pixar have forayed into live-action film. It
will be the second live-action film released that Pixar was
involved with, following the Disney·Pixar production,
John Carter of
Mars.

Contents

Plot

1906 follows a young investigative reporter and a young
cop trying to uncover rampant political corruption in 1906 San Francisco. The
city is one of the most beautiful in the world, but underneath the
veneer there is mob rule,
Shanghaiing, and
even trafficking in Chinese slave girls.

Annalisa Passarelli, the Evening Bulletin's music critic, is
secretly helping Byron Fallon, the chief of detectives, gather dirt
on ficitional character Adam Rolf. Rolf runs a corrupt political
syndicate and secretly spreads his influence via his proxy, mayor
Eugene
Schmitz, an actual historical figure. Schmitz employs an army
of goons on the waterfront led by the unsavory character, James
"Shanghai" Kelly, also a real person. Byron is killed right as
he is about to arrest the mayor. So Byron's son, Hunter, a former
student, teams up with Annalisa and the Brotherhood, a group of
honest cops, to bring down Rolf. Before they can incriminate Rolf,
the San Francisco Earthquake plunges the city into chaos.[2] The
widespread acts of fraud and profiteering in the city government
further complicate the already tragic disaster.

The historical figure Enrico Caruso is also included. Based on
true events, the famous tenor sang at the San Francisco Opera House
five hours before the quake hit, and then sang from his hotel room
as he surveyed the carnage.[3]

Production

Burning of San Francisco, Mission District

Dalessandro began researching 1906 in 1997 as a prequel
to his 1993 historical mystery novel Bohemian Heart.[3] When
Titanic became a blockbuster in 1997, Peter Miller,
Dalessandro's manager, urged him to get a detailed film treatment
ready. They pitched to directors' production companies,
specifically Spielberg'sDreamWorks, Barry Levinson's company Baltimore
Spring Creek, and Wolfgang
Peterson's company.

According to Dalessandro, the pitch was "Titanic was a boat in the
North Atlantic - this is an entire city, the most beautiful we've
ever seen, destroyed in 40 hours."[3]
There was an instant bidding war, and within 24 hours they had sold
the script to Warner
Bros. for six figures. The script then went to Barry Levinson
and Paula Weinstein and Spring Creek Productions for production.
They settled on this company because producer Len Amato wanted
Dalessandro to write at least three drafts, giving the writer more
influence.[4]
After finishing the drafts, Dalessandro released a best-selling
novel by the same name in 2004.[3][5]

The film has an estimated budget of $200 million, and because of
the massive size and scale of the project, it is also financially
backed by Pixar Animation
Studios and Walt Disney Studios, making it the
first time Pixar has been involved in live-action film. Pixar
executive John
Lasseter is also involved.[1][6]

Academy
Award-winning director Brad Bird was selected to direct the film,
making it his first live action endeavor after working at Pixar. He
paused work on the project to direct the 2007 Pixar film Ratatouille, then officially
signed onto the 1906 project in March 2008, when Warner
Bros. promptly reserved all sound-studios available on their Burbank lot for production.[1]

However, later that spring, Warner Bros. quietly released the
reservations, and Brad Bird has been rewriting the screenplay in
order to decrease the massive scope of the story.[6]
Much like Titanic, the studios openly
admit the film has enormous box office potential, but blogger Jim
Hill suggested the film's start date was postponed due to
Disney/Pixar and Warner Bros.' nervousness over the projected $200
million budget.[1]